


The Shape in the Glass

by halfd3af



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, Prey (Video Game 2017)
Genre: ASL Gordon Freeman, Aliens!!!, Blood, Gore, Joshua is able to be a true bastard in this fic, Multi, Tommy has a stutter, deaf gordon freeman, mention of needles, psychic alien powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27539767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfd3af/pseuds/halfd3af
Summary: Gordon Freeman is an engineer aboard the Resonance 1, a Moon-orbiting space station operated by the company, BlackMesa, in 2035. Ever since arriving over a year ago, he’s been having strange dreams since providing a map of his brain for the Neuromod Division as customary for all employees.He doesn’t know the true nature of the facility, that it’s actually a cage for an alien species known as Typhon which are experimented on for research, their neural patterns acting as the blueprint for the company’s Neural Modifiers, a tool that allows humans to change the structure of their brain to acquire new skills.When the ghosts in hiding finally break free from their shackles, with his unknowing help, he’s gonna need a lot more than his wrench to try and fix this mess.
Relationships: Benrey/Tommy Coolatta/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	1. The Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Prey (2017) is one of my favorite games ever, and I realized it would be perfect for a crossover with my current fixation. I highly suggest y’all watch a playthrough (Markiplier has one) or pick up the game yourself, but I’ll be writing this fic with the knowledge that some people have no clue what this game is about, so I’ll make sure everything gets context sooner or later!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m pushing myself to write a lot better for this fic and my other writing going forward, so I’m even more descriptive than I usually am

The dream he’d had the night before lingered in Gordon’s mind like a phantom. A familiar feeling of dread pooling in his stomach as hundreds of invisible eyes watched him. Observing his hitched breathing, every nervous twitch of his fingers or the shifting of his balance as he debated on what to do. Run? Fight? He didn’t even know what was out there, in the void surrounding him. 

But something changed this time around, despite the dream remaining static for the past several months: a bright light appeared in the distance.

The darkness enveloping his vision gave way to its gentle shine, a silhouette beginning to take form. He couldn’t make out any details, but the radiance had a gentle warmth to it, like rays of sunlight. When the dark tendrils wrapped around his arms like so many times before, he didn’t feel compelled to struggle.

The action had been gentle, and he realized that he was being pulled towards the dazzling figure in the distance. The light eventually became too much for his eyes, and when he blinked, he was awake.

Gordon stewed over this during his morning shower, the water cascading down his back with a distracting sensory pressure. When he arrived in his office later that morning, he still couldn’t shake the echoes of the dream. That’s why the notification alert of the email was such a shooting star; completely unexpected and catching his attention immediately. He grimaced.  _ Is something broken this early already? _

> _ Could you come on by my office in the Neuromod Division when you get a chance? There’s something regarding the neural map you gave us in orientation that I’d like to discuss. _
> 
> _ -Alice Aiken _

Gordon was baffled. He’d completely forgotten he’d provided that when he arrived on the station. What could Research want with him? He was an engineer who knew how to fix just about anything, not a talented athlete or chess grandmaster, but maybe that was exactly why they wanted to talk. 

Were they going to release a new line of neuromods associated with his skillset, and they needed more samples? _Maybe they found something troubling in the scan._ He tensed with anxiety in his chair at the thought.

_ No, stop it. Don’t assume the worst. You’re too old to suddenly develop paraplexsis. And... they would have said something sooner if it was cancer. But maybe they hadn’t checked out my scan until recently... _

The sound of a foghorn startled him from the way his thoughts were spiraling like nebulas. “Josh!” He yelled, throwing a stern glare at the operator levitating by his side as he ripped his hearing aids out. If the cat-sized robot could emote, it would be wearing an expression of smug satisfaction. 

He knew he was the one responsible for their access to such sounds, being his creator and all, but that didn’t mean he had to make his hearing aids squeal. Before he could smack the side of their chassis, the machine zapped him with an electric shock. “Don’t fucking yell at me!” It squealed, its voice program not quite perfected as their cadence warbled unnaturally in pitch. 

Gordon chuckled as it tried to go in for another attack. “Stop it” He commanded, trying to be stern as his hands flipped palm-out in tandem. His operator heeded this request, retracting the electric claw from the air and back into it’s metal body.

“I’ve gotta go meet with someone, can you be good while I’m gone?” He asks, eyebrows raised. The machine trilled happily and gave a typical enthusiastic, yet nonsensical response: “Cowboys!”. 

Ever since he took it to a viewing of some Western film in the station’s theater over a month ago, it had refused to budge from the fixation. He eventually ordered a poster of the movie’s protagonist to hang on the wall of his office, and Joshua would stare adoringly at it for hours. He smiled and hauled himself out of his chair, taking a moment to stretch before reinserting his hearing aids. 

Gordon was lucky to have an office all to himself, though it felt more like a supply closet than anything due to it’s size. But it was alright, since he spent most of his time doing repairs around  _Resonance 1_ anyway. On the rare occasion that he had to fix something outside the station, Josh would usually tag along with him, so he wouldn’t get too agoraphobic. There was little reason for him to be concerned about flying off into space when he had an APS on, but he still worried.

When he left his office, he waved to Dr. Coomer who was using the Recycler at the entrance of their department. “Ah, hello Gordon!” The older man greeted excitedly, before quickly returning to his task of dumping mangled scrap metal into the machine. The large biceps underneath the Chief Engineer’s orange uniform were a sight to behold, and he tried not to stare. The man was nearing his 70’s, but his physique didn’t showcase that fact in the slightest.

He walked down the catwalk to the staircase by Thomas Shapiro’s office, and nearly bumped into a particularly flustered-looking coworker leaving the Trauma Bay. Darnold Pepper had uncharacteristic tears streaming down his face, but he raced by Gordon too quickly for him to ask what was wrong. They made their way towards the elevator in a flash, and the wave of concern that washed over him deepened his already anxious mood of what awaited him in Research.

Continuing onwards, he ascended the large staricase at the far end of the lobby. Earth and the Moon loomed in the distance, one closer to the station than the other, and he stopped halfway up the stairs to gaze at the two celestial bodies. It was even better to view them from the outside, unobscured by the BlackMesa banners and embossed plexiglass, but he felt safer to stargaze in the comforting grasp of the station’s artificial gravity. Letting loose a sigh, he continued towards the Neuromod Division, passing though the doors with a knot in his stomach.

At least the art deco design of the foyer was pretty to look at, especially with the quiet murmuring of the fountain in the center of the large space. The dome-like window in the ceiling was dark with the blackness of space, but it hardly permeated through the glass due to the well-lit nature of the department’s lighting. That is, until they suddenly flickered. Passing by the security station, which was surprisingly empty, he tried not to dwell on it.  _ Maybe they’re troubleshooting something in the Power Plant... and maybe Singh or Steele had stepped out to use the restroom. I could have just missed them . _

He reached the Research office and caught the eye of Alice over the transparent wall that surrounded her cubicle, her face reflecting the pale glow of her workstation. “You’re Dr. Freeman, yes?” She asked, extending her hand in greeting. Gordon grasped it in return with a nod, slightly shocked at being called that title. Everyone on the station seemed to forget that he had a PhD.

“I bet you’re wondering why I called you over here today. And let me start off with saying that it’s _not_ bad news” Alice stated, and the tension dissolved from his shoulders instantaneously. “I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions, and hopefully they don’t come across as too personal...” She continues, and he takes a seat in a nearby chair.

“You’ve been hearing impaired your whole life, right?” The woman asks, and his eyes narrow at the term. “Yes, I’m hard of hearing” He replies, his left hand performing the two simple movements in rapid succession. When she doesn’t respond, simply staring at him with a nervous expression, he verbalizes it. She looks relieved at that, and he wants to roll his eyes at having to accommodate her rather than the other way around. She writes something down on a nearby notepad, before lifting her head up again.

“Have you always known sign language?” Alice inquires, and his brain was already dreading the mental energy required to respond. “I learned a little when I was a kid, but it wasn’t until college that I got back into it. I’ve used it ever since” He answers, his hands mirroring his words on a slight delay.

“The reason I’m asking all this is because we’ve been curious about manual languages such as sign with regards to neuromod research—“ She says, but her words are cut out by the sound of gunshots. The two of them flinch, and he stands up from the chair, nearly knocking it to the floor.

“What the hell..?” Alice exclaims, but he’s already moving out of the cubicle and towards the gunfire. His instincts were screaming for him to run the other way, to get as far away as possible. Gordon couldn’t explain it, but it felt as though an umbilical cable was tethered to his body, urging him forward across the linoleum like a leash. He ignored a cry from Alice behind him, his attention tunneling on discovering the source of the commotion.

Several people streamed past him as he made his way further into the department through a decontamination hallway, their faces wide with terror and ignoring him completely. He maneuvered across an expansive catwalk, finding a set of stairs leading to a lower level. Passing through another door, he found himself in a large room surrounded by Looking Glass panels, with a... helicopter in the center? 

_ What the hell is that doing here? _ It was clearly a simulation device, and not the real deal, but that still was a confusing sight to find on a space station. Gordon continued onwards, eventually finding more and more stage-like settings, such as a generic lobby with a fake elevator. He even discovered a storage area filled with props of all kinds, though he ignored that in favor of looking through the nearby workstations.

Some of them were left unlocked, and he was confused by the contents of the emails he managed to skim through. Something involving intensive testing and Thomas Shapiro, the Vice President of the station along with being the Director of Research. Words like “personality drifting” were thrown around quite a lot. He glanced up and noticed that the stage in front of him was more elaborate than the others he had passed by. 

It was a replica of an apartment, completely furnished and shining with spotlights. He stared through the Looking Glass, taking in the sights until he spotted someone lying on the bed against the back wall. The red and black BlackMesa uniform adorning their body told him all he needed to know. _Is this where they’ve been for the past several months?_ No one around the station had seen them for a solid month.

He was just about to wander over to the transparent wall when he felt something latch itself to his leg. Glancing down, a four-legged black mass was trying to claw through his uniform, contrasting with the orange color noticeably despite the dark lighting. He froze in place, not quite sure what to do, but he pulled the wrench from his tool loop all the same. 

It’s body tilted upwards at the sudden movement, and it launched towards his face with terrifying speed. He had no time to scream as he swung his arm, the head of the metal tool colliding against the creature with a sickening crunch. It hit the floor with a loud splat, disintegrating into a pile of purple-black goo.

His blood pounded in his ears as he stared down at the aftermath.  _ What the fuck was that? _ Gordon didn’t have time to ponder over it though, as the glass nearby shattered into a million razor-sharp shards. Turning his head, the previously unconscious Thomas had broken through the Looking Glass. 

Their amber eyes practically glowed underneath the spotlights, and they towered over him by a solid twelve inches. The director looked at the wrench in his hand, covered in black blood, and the creature lying on the floor. “I.. I think we need to leave.. to get out of here. It’s, not safe” They stuttered, and he managed a shaky nod in agreement.

As the two of them retraced Gordon’s previous path, the person beside him kept gazing around in explicit confusion. It was like they had no idea where they were. “What’s your name, sir?” They asked as the duo made their way up to the catwalk. “Gordon, Gordon Freeman” He replied, signing on impulse before realizing that he didn’t know if Thomas would understand him. 

It was his lucky day it seemed, despite everything, because they nodded their head in acknowledgment. “You.. you know sign?” Gordon clarified, and Thomas gave a small smile. “Y-yeah! I have a family member, a cousin... whose hard of hearing, so I learned it for her” They respond, and he feels a similar smile paint his face. 

That expression was wiped away however, as they walked up to the decontamination corridor and helplessly witnessed a coworker get mauled by one of those creatures. “Ah, get it off!” The man yelled as the black mass latched onto his face, shoving a tendril down his throat. Gordon would have broken the glass door to help the poor man if it wasn’t already too late; his skin had turned to a corpse gray within seconds, and the gurgling died in his throat soon after. 

It looked like they had been decomposing for weeks when the creature finished doing... whatever it had been doing. Even more horrifying, the creature suddenly divided into four. Before he could say anything, the TranScribe in Thomas’ pocket rang out with an incoming call. “No one has been able to stop the Mimics from multiplying since they broke containment. I’m going to help you stay alive, just a little further” A monotone voice rang out, piercing through his urge to vomit at the sight in front of them.

“Who.. who was that?” Gordon asked, as he followed Thomas’ lead in stepping over the recently deceased, just now remembering that more of those  _ things _ were out there. Mimics, if he had heard the voice correctly. “Uh, I don’t actually know. I woke up back there and they just.. they just called me. They said their name was.. Laurel” Thomas explains, and he tries to recall if he knew anyone by that name. 

As they passed through the office that Gordon had been in just earlier, not a soul in sight, he heard a blast from his left. Turning his head, he saw Thomas with a hand stretched outwards, directed at the remains of a Mimic. “What did you-“ Gordon tries to ask, walking over to them, but the director whips around and holds their hand out again. “Duck!” They shout, and he does just so. He looks up in time to see a burst of yellow light explode from their palm, and black matter sprays over his body as a result.

“Sorry! There was a uh, uh, a Mimic pouncing at ya!” They exclaim as he rises to his feet, blinking slowly as his brain slowly processes what just happened. He eventually notices viscera splattered across his glasses, and he takes them off to dab at the lenses with his undershirt peeking through the top of his uniform . “How did you do that?” Gordon asks after replacing his glasses, his hands slow and deliberate. “I... I don’t know. This is all instinct, Dr. Freeman!” They state, their body shifting on a dime as they seem to locate another target. 

There were two chairs on the floor when there shouldn’t be in a nearby cubicle. He soon understood why they were called Mimics when Thomas shot a blast in between the two objects. One launched into the nearby wall, and one turned into a splatter on the wooden floor.

Well, if Gordon had a human super-weapon on his side against these creatures, he wasn’t going to complain. Leaving the offices behind, the glass window showing a glimpse into the connectome recording room held more than just the sight of a piano on a stage. There was someone, no,  _ something _ in standing on the other side of the glass. 

Several white dots peered out of what look like it’s head, and it’s two “arms” briefly divided into black tendrils that flourished around in the air. But as quickly as the two of them saw it, it was gone. Another incoming call rung in the resulting silence. “That was a Phantom. Typhon anthrophantasmus. Keep moving” Laurel informed them succinctly before hanging up. 

The duo soon found that the foyer revealed more corpses and more Mimics. A GLOO cannon lay abandoned on the floor by a dead security officer. _Singh..._ His momentary sadness was disrupted at the sight of a Mimic encased in the white adhesive. Deciding to leave it alone, he picked up the device and slipped the wrench into his tool loop.

“What’s that?” Thomas asked, and he balked at the ludicrous question. “It’s a GLOO cannon?” He affirmed, and he was met with a blank stare. “It stands for Gelifoam Lattice Organism Obstructor? We use it to patch up holes?” Gordon elaborates, fingerspelling out the acronym slowly. Still no sign of recognition in their amber eyes. “Well... it seems to work on these Mimic things though, so that’s handy” He continues awkwardly, gesturing at the creature encased in gelifoam.

Following those who came before him, when he spotted the next Mimic, he encased it in adhesive. It didn’t become completely still however, so he bashed it to a pulp with his wrench. That seemed to work, and he repeated the method several times over while Thomas gazed around the room. There was the sound of another incoming call, but he couldn’t quite make it out as he focused on destroying another Mimic.

He found Thomas standing in front of a neuromod display case, and before he could ask what they were doing, they used a wrench he didn’t they know had to destroy the glass. Gordon noticed that instead of a fake, there had been a genuine neuromod residing in it. 

Without warning, they pressed the rubber cup of the device to their eye and squeezed the trigger of the syringe. Gordon had to look away, his body shivering with unease. Someone else had to apply his first neuromod when he arrived here, but Thomas was doing it like it was no big deal. 

After a minute had passed, they discarded the applicator by putting it back in the case. He was about to ask if they were alright before they backed up to where he stood, a dozen feet away, and shot a blast at the display. There was a significant increase in destruction compared to previous instances, and he gulped at the small shockwave the explosion produced.

“We... we should get a move on!” Thomas announced after a moment, making their way towards the main lobby. He watched them for a few seconds, shook his head, and raced after them so he wouldn’t be left behind from the giant strides of their legs. As they made their way down the staircase, Thomas stopped halfway. Gordon turned his head, concerned that they had seen another creature, before realizing that they were gazing at the planet and satellite nearly hundreds of thousands of miles away from them. 

Their face wasn’t of the typical contemplative awe of most residents of the station. It was absolute shock, mixed in with a little bit of fear. “We’re on  Resonance 1 ... aren’t we?” Thomas asked, their voice sounding small and far away. They turned to look down at him, and Gordon simply nodded. There was a heaviness to their steps now as they maneuvered down to the bottom of the staircase, and the two of them silently crossed the lobby.

Or, they would have, if not for the two Phantoms that appeared from out of nowhere. Thomas shoved him to the ground as an orb went whizzing over their heads, not unlike the ones he had seen being produced by the director themself. These things seemed far more dangerous than the Mimics, and his adrenaline decided that  _now_ was the time to freeze rather than spring into action. 

But it didn’t matter, because Thomas clambered to their feet without hesitation and sent a similar blast over to the closest of the two. He felt the rumble of through the tile beneath his feet as he rose into a crouch, and he peeked his head over the furniture they had been hiding behind to see what had become of the creature. It was nowhere to be seen, reduced to a now familiar splatter on the floor. But where was the second one?

Gordon felt a vibration in the air, and he turned around to see the other Phantom charging up an attack. Now it was his turn to grab Thomas and pull them to safety, nearly forgetting to grab the GLOO cannon off the floor beside him. He dragged them over the nearby reception desk, the two of them vaulting over the counter in the nick of time. The furniture they had been using for cover was displaced across the floor and in multiple pieces.

“Are you okay?” He asks, turning to face his companion. Gordon’s heart drops when he notices how exhausted they looked. It was probably from using these inhuman abilities they had at their disposal. He gulped as he pulled out his wrench, and steeled himself for what was about to happen. “Where.. what are you...?” Thomas asked, but he raced from around the counter to where the Phantom stood waiting.

It’s body tensed up in preparation for another kinetic blast, but Gordon was ready with his GLOO cannon to freeze it in place. It took longer than expected compared to encasing the Mimics, and the yellow orb flew past his head with startling proximity.

He felt the static charge lift the hair on his scalp as it did so. But now it was completely immobile, so he got to work on pummeling it with wrench.  Over and over and over and over and over. 

Eventually, it fell apart into a heap of viscera after enough damage had been dealt. All he could hear was his heavy breathing from the overexertion, so he startled at Thomas putting their hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get to.. to my office! Laurel said it’s safe there” They suggest, and Gordon agrees with a nod, too tired to use his hands.

Laurel rings the TranScribe as they enter the spacious office. “Welcome back. This has been your home for the last three years” They state, and Gordon is able to copy Thomas’ dumbfounded expression at the sight of the room. 

It was massive compared to the tiny closet that he called an office. There was a seating area just in front fo them, with Fabricator and a Recycler tucked into an adjacent room. He whistled at that, wishing he could have such amenities. He always had to trudge around to the nearest Recycler when he had stuff to unload, and it was always such a pain. 

Eventually, Thomas activated the Looking Glass on their workstation, just as Laurel had asked earlier, and the screen revealed itself after a large wooden panel slid out of place.

A video loaded in after a few moments, showing Thomas sitting in a chair beside an inactive Operator. It didn’t resemble anything that he had seen before, having a customized black and red chassis. 

“Hello, Tommy” The doppelgänger on the screen announced, staring into the camera. “Tough day, right? If I’m talking... talking to myself, it.. it must be”. The copy let out a sigh, gazing at their hands before turning back to the camera. “Your memory’s full.. shot full of holes, I-I know. I’m sorry, but it’s permanent” They continue, and Gordon starts to fill in the pieces from the information he had slowly been collecting. 

“The first thing you should know is that.. you can t-trust Laurel. It’s an operator that I made as a backup of you and me. It knows.. what you’ve forgotten” The video relays, but it’s far from being over.

“We’ve been testing a new kind of neuromod based on the Typhon organisms. Instead of using their uh, neural patterns to allow human skills to be transferred and copied, we’ve been... mapping their abilities onto humans. The problem is, when you uninstall a neuromod, it resets mem- your memory.. back to the moment when it was.. first put in” They explain, and now Gordon finally understands why Thomas has been so... different, in more ways than one.

“That’s why you forget... There’s s-supposed to be a process to bring you back up to speed between test runs. But.. someone could just skip that part. Turn a single day into.. your entire life”.

The version of Thomas in the video curls their fingers into fists. “Well, that’s exactly what Toby did! The question is, why? You’re.. you’re not going to like what I have to say next...” They murmur, but before they can elaborate, the screen cuts out. 

An error message saying “connection lost” takes up the screen, illuminating the darkened room with an ominous red glow. A TranScribe rings, and another one-way call plays out. “I thought I’d found every one of those damn videos. Sorry, but I can’t let you listen to that” Someone states, and Gordon realizes that it’s Tobias Shapiro, the older brother of Thomas. 

This whole situation was becoming more and more bizarre. “Not until I’ve had a chance to explain everything in person. For now, just... Dammit. I have to go. Just, please sit tight” Tobias continued, his voice trailing off mid-sentence before they quickly hung up.

He was about to say something before the TranScribe went off again, and he was about ready to take a wrench to it if he heard that annoying “incoming call” alert one more time. _Maybe I should just take my hearing aids out... Wait, no, bad idea._ “Sorry, Thomas. Your brother cut us off from the Looking Glass servers. We’ll have to improvise” Laurel acknowledged calmly, silent for a moment as the operator considered their options.

“I suggest you search Dr. Calvino’s workshop in the Hardware Labs, since he invented the technology. You might be able to restore the server connection there. Good luck” The machine recommended, becoming silent once more.

He glanced over at Thomas, and they looked extremely overwhelmed with all this nee information. “Hey” He said, waving a hand in front of their face. They snapped up to look at him, tears having formed in their eyes. “It’ll be okay, Thomas, because... because you’ve got me. I know my way around this station like the back of my  _ hands”_ Gordon informed them, raising an eyebrow at the mention of their hands. 

A laugh left their mouth, a delightful sound to hear considering everything that the two had just been through. It made him smile. “Okay, Dr. Freeman. You.. you can just call me Tommy, ya know” They replied, wiping away their tears. Gordon tilted his head with exasperation. “And you can just call me Gordon” He answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> January in this story is named Laurel, a shade of green, because I wanted to reference Tommy’s Sweet Voice naming conventions.
> 
> I had to include a lot of the original dialogue from January/Laurel so any newcomers wouldnt be TOO confused
> 
> Tommy ran out of PSI at the end, so Gordon had to go sicko mode on that Phantom; in my version of the events of Prey, Tommy didn’t start with a clean slate like Morgan did, they got lucky and had one or two Typhon mods installed
> 
> and as an fyi, Gordon limits any and all talking when possible, he just finds it tiring


	2. Neuromancer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to stop writing this chapter at a certain point because it was getting too long and I preferred using this chapter name for this section

They needed to pass through the teleconferencing center to make their way to the Hardware Labs. Glancing through the locked door, he noticed the body of a security officer on the floor.  _ Shit, it’s Elias. _

The man had offered Gordon to join his roleplaying game, _Fatal Fortress_ , that was held every week with several other coworkers. He had declined, feeling like it would be too arduous to communicate in such a lively setting. In hindsight, after everything that had been happening, he wished he had said yes.

All he could do was set up the turret that they’d found in Tommy’s office in front of the door, and he was surprised that when he prepared the device for action, it suddenly fired several shots into Tommy’s thigh. “Alien threat detected” It warned lowly as they shrieked in pain and jostled out of the way. In their dash out of the line of fire, they activated the lock on the door and several Mimics jumped out of hiding. 

The turret changed targets, destroying their bodies with relative ease. Gordon picked up the machine, letting it automatically folded back inside it’s container, before turning to assess the damage. Thankfully, there was only a smattering of scorch marks in their uniform.

“I can help you fix that in Hardware” He says, his hands heavy with relief. They seem too shocked to say anything, instead choosing to simply nod.  The turrets weren’t supposed to attack people, and this worried him. _Is it because of their Typhon neuromods?_

The lights of the teleconferencing room glistened on something metallic lying on the floor. With a hesitant reach of his fingers, he picked up Elias’ former pistol. It felt heavy in his gloved hands, and he gulped. “Do.. do you know how to shoot.. use a gun?” Tommy asks nervously over his shoulder. 

He grabs the box of 9mm bullets from Elias’ pocket, stashing them in his own. “It can’t be too hard, right?” Gordon states, forcing himself to smile as he’s left with one hand to reply. Tommy mirrors this nervous smile, and the two of them set about clearing the room of enemies.

A deaf engineer and an amnesiac superhuman made an interesting combination. When Tommy had to rest after shooting blasts of light from their hands, Gordon would pick up the slack by immobilizing Mimics in gelifoam and smashing them with his wrench. And as a Phantom readied an attack in Gordon’s auditory blindspot, Tommy yanked them to safety. 

Now that he had a large enough target, he felt comfortable enough to fire a volley of bullets in the creature’s figure. The sound didn’t hurt his ears as much as he had worried, it thankfully having a silencer. It stumbled after being hit, eventually falling to the floor in a heap of black tendrils.

The foyer of Hardware Labs was relatively normal, and he almost let out a sigh of relief until he spotted the operator lying on the floor. Not having seen them quite yet, it took off into the air, its single eye glowing a bright red. “Logging self-diagnostic... files c-corrupted” It chirped, the baritone voice of the machine glitching more than normal.

A type of black smoke plumed from its ventilation, and his heart sank. The department had seen this type of behavior from operators before, but very rarely. They usually had no choice but to completely dismantle the device and recycle it for scrap material, as no amount of rebooting would fix it. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of several electric shocks, he readied his wrench for battle.

It didn’t see him until it was too late, crashing onto the floor as Gordon bludgeoned it to smithereens. Eventually, its optic sensor flickered off, completely black. Knowing what was to come, he took a few steps back, encouraging Tommy to do the same. Soon, its internal motor exploded from the damage it had sustained. 

They jumped at the sudden event, grasping Gordon’s free hand tightly. He didn’t think anything of it until he glanced up at them to assure them that it was over. Their eyes met, and he noticed that the redness of their sclera from the neuromod injection was still present. It provided a contrast to their bright amber eyes, which looked quite beautiful in the light shining through the nearby windows. 

Gordon’s own eyes widened at this internal observation, and he quickly turned away as a flame of embarrassment spread down his neck. Tommy let go of his hand, and he decided to venture further into the department.

He came across another corrupted operator, which had its blowtorch whipped out and lit. Gordon attempted the same method of destroying it as before, but he wasn’t able to sneak up on it. He narrowly avoided his ponytail being torched as he ducked to avoid the flames, but he managed to knock it to the ground and pulverize it all the same. 

Tommy trailed behind him as he dipped underneath some directional signage hanging above the doorway of the security station, and he searched through the lockers hoping to find more pistol ammo. He found that, and an extra surprise: a shotgun. Holding it in his hands, he marveled at how light it felt. 

Crouching through the threshold once again, he took the pistol from his tool belt and handed it to Tommy. “This’ll be helpful for when you get too tired of psychic blasting those alien bastards” He suggests, and they smile gratefully. After some careful studying, Gordon figured out how to load the shotgun shells into the chamber. He gave it a pump that was loud enough for him to hear, and he grinned at having something more powerful to protect the two of them with.

Just like the pistol did, it showed how many shells were currently inside: 10 rounds. The entrance to the rest of the department was locked when they traveled over to the door, and he tried to recall the location of the nearest maintenance shaft. Turning down a nearby fork in the path, he lead Tommy towards the demonstration stage.

A Phantom lurked behind the glass, pacing across the floor silently. Descending the stair-stepped seating arrangements, Gordon dropped into the lowest section where a nearby access panel waited for him. “It might be a tight fit for you” He said apologetically to his giant companion as he lifted the lever securing it to the wall. “That’s.. that’s alright!” They replied, following in after him. 

With them both inside, he noticed a fire blocking their path. The gas line running along the wall had burst open, where a puddle of the liquid had caught fire. Handing the shotgun in his arms to Tommy, he pulled out the GLOO cannon to seal the pipe shut, along with extinguishing the flames. They gasped in amazement at this, and he let that fuel his ego for a moment before noticing the corpse lying at the end of the corridor. He stepped past their facedown body, not wanting to see who the orange colored uniform belonged to.

Normally, a ladder would be situated against the tall ledge now in front of them, but there was none to be found. Using the GLOO gun, he sprayed on some gelifoam until the metal grate resembled a rock climbing wall. Hooking it onto his belt once more, he grabbed the shotgun from Tommy and tried his best to climb up with one hand. 

When he reached the top, he placed it beside him so he could lend some support to the individual below. Hoisting them up as best he could, he nearly fell on his ass from the sudden momentum change. Gordon opened the panel behind them, and crawled out on his hands and knees. The two of them stood up, stretching their backs as they found themselves in the atrium.

But it looked much worse for wear than when Gordon was last here: a fire engulfed a section of the wall to their left, and he vaguely heard the noise of an electric panel sparking. Investigating the fire was his first priority, so he killed the flames with some gelifoam.  _ Why weren’t the fire alarms going off? _

After killing another Phantom, they use the nearby gravity shaft to reach the second floor. Tommy glances nervously at the untraditional elevator, and he gives them a smile before stepping inside. It carries him up to the platform at the top, and he waves from over the railing of the catwalk. 

Gordon watches them take a deep breath before stepping inside, and he jokingly shakes his hands to congratulate them when their feet touch solid ground. They laugh, and the sound spreads warmth throughout his chest. When they reach the lab that Tommy’s TransScribe had marked on a map, Laurel informs them of what happened as soon as they lay eyes on the situation.

“That side of the lab was breached. Hard vacuum, no gravity” She observes, somehow from wherever she is, as they watch Lorenzo Calvino’s dead body float in the remains of the laboratory. A bright red keycard floats by his face, presumably the one to his workshop. 

“There’s an exterior airlock in the Machine Shop you could use to reach him... You’ll need to upgrade your suit with a propulsion system first” Laurel adds, before going radio silent as typical of her. “I have one in my office that I can grab, and we would have needed to head over there anyway. I need to check on my son” Gordon suggests, and confusion lights up their face.

“Your.. son?” Tommy asks, and he chuckles at their expression. “Laurel isn’t the only custom operator on the station, you know” He answers, guiding them back out onto the catwalk. They walk towards the gravity shaft again, but continue straight. Shadowy figures rummage around in the offices ahead of them, and he’s eager to put his new weapon to the test.

“Daddy!” Joshua yells when the two of them enter his small office, and he holds out his arms for them to fly into. “Sorry that I was gone for so long, Joshie” Gordon murmurs aloud, ignoring the shock on Tommy’s face at hearing him speak. “I love you!” The operator coos as it hovers up and down, and he smiles. 

“Could you fix my friend’s suit over there, Josh?” He asks, pointing to the laser holes in the leg of Tommy’s uniform after switching back to signing. The robot gets to works without another word, and hestarts to dig through the chest in the corner of the room. 

Gordon pulls out his APS and sees that his spare is also tucked away in the drawer. He picks it up as well. Joshua had patched the director’s uniform up perfectly, and he held out the backpack-shaped device for them to take. After they strap themselves in, he pulls out sensor pads for them to slip into their boots. 

“What are these f-for?” Tommy asks, and he shrugs nonchalantly. “I guess you’ll find out. You ready to experience being out in space?” He asked verbally, his hands now occupied with booting down Joshua.

He didn’t want to risk them becoming corrupted. Tommy’s office would be safer for them, and he’d come back to grab the operator when they finished rebooting the Looking Glass servers. Glancing up, he realized that they were waiting until he had made eye contact with them before speaking. “I think I’d be too scared to go outside the station, but since you’re here... I think it’ll be a-alright!” They reply, and he gives them an encouraging grin.

Before they could disengage the airlock, there was a host of Mimics to be killed in the Machine Shop. There were also several more corrupted operators, and Gordon knew he’s made the right choice in powering off Joshua. When the mechanisms sealing off the entrance separated from the opening, he stepped onto the newly accessible walkway. 

Gordon grabbed an oxygen tank and accompanying helmet off a rack in the airlock itself, and Tommy copied him as he put them on with practiced efficiency. The trickiest part was connecting the oxygen tank to the suit itself, so he helped them with that task after pressing a button to shut the two of them inside.

He gave them a thumbs up, eyebrows raised, and when they copied the motion, he pressed the button on the far wall. Slowly but surely, they began to float off the metal flooring beneath them as the artificial gravity kicked off. And when the outer door slid open, while Gordon couldn’t hear them, he knew they were in utter shock from the slackness of their body. 

Grabbing Tommy by the hand, he steered them using the thrust action from his Artax Propulsion System. The entryway funnel, lined with red lights for visibility, was chock full of various debris. With a subtle dorsiflexion of his toes, it allowed him to increase the speed just enough to get them around the storage boxes and chunks of metal from a nearby destroyed solar panel.

Soon, they were far enough away from anything that could puncture their suits, and he demonstrated how the sensors in their boots worked. Toes pointed up, you move. Toes pointed down, you brake. They gave him a thumbs up, before tilting their head upwards to stare around them.

“Wow!” Tommy said with a diagonal shake of their hand, and Gordon had to agree. The view was spectacular from out here. Stargazing back on Earth had nothing on being able to see the arms of the Milky Way crystal clear without the obscuring haze of an atmosphere. Hundreds of thousands of stars stretched in every direction, and it was easy to get lost in the astral scenery. 

But they had done a space-walk for a reason, so Gordon signaled for them to stay put as he launched himself towards the hole in the side of the Hardware Labs. With a careful precision that he knew Tommy wouldn’t be quite capable of, he maneuvered around the sharp wreckage.

After snagging the keycard, he cast a sorrowful glance at the elderly Italian inventor. His eyes were glassy and his hands locked around his throat, with the signs of cyanosis coloring their skin.  _ So many people that I just barely knew from working around the station are just.. dead. Tommy doesn’t remember a soul except their brother, so it’s only really affecting me. _

He once again questions if he should have reached out to his coworkers more. Being friends with them wouldn’t have prevented their deaths, but he felt guilt consuming him regardless of that fact.  _ Why am I alive and not them? I’m nobody special. _

As soon as that thought crossed his consciousness, something flickered in the corner of Gordon’s vision. Pivoting his head, he realized that it was Tommy. They were testing out the thrust and breaks on the APS, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

He navigated between the debris cluttering his path once again, and attempted to catch up with the somersaulting individual. “Having fun?” He asked after they turned to face him, and Gordon tried to show his amusement through his body language due to the sun visor obscuring his face.

“I thought being outside would be scary, but I feel... relaxed” Tommy replies, their hands slow as they contemplate. He could understand that. Zero gravity felt like being enveloped in a soft blanket, or floating in a pool of water. It was an alien experience, but not uncomfortable. Gordon’s only concern with space-walks was the intrusive worry of suddenly rocketing off into the depths of space. 

Tommy waved their hand in front of his face, and he realized he had zoned out. “Sorry, I was thinking” He apologizes, and they repeat themselves without hesitation. “I was just saying that I’m glad I met you. I don’t know where I’d be without your help, Gordon” They stated, and he was grateful for the translucent glass shielding his face, preventing them from seeing his flushed cheeks.

“Same here” He replies simply, and the two of them remain motionless for a few moments. Eventually, he suggested that they go back inside, to which Tommy readily agreed. After Gordon reset the Looking Glass servers, he heard a familiar chiming noise. “Hurry back to your office to finish the video, I’ll meet you there” Laurel remarked, finishing the call with her usual swiftness, and the two of them shared a look of surprise.

They were finally going to meet this mysterious operator. He nabbed Joshua on their way out of the department, and when departing towards the labs, there were more Typhon. Different ones than before. They encountered a Phantom in the teleconferencing room, but it’s form was less... corporeal. When it was dispatched with his shotgun, glad that he had removed his hearing aids, instead of smearing the tile as others had before it, a strange smoke burned from its remains. A few moments passed, and the flesh ceased emitting the curious aura.

And then when they stepped into Tommy’s office, a Mimic ran towards them, covered in what looked like spikes. He blasted it with a couple rounds of pistol bullets, and it collapsed onto the floor. When past Tommy had said they weren’t going to enjoy what they had to say next, they were unfortunately telling the truth after he hit ‘resume’ on the workstation. 

“You have to.. destroy Resonance 1. The research, the Typhon, nothing can survive, uh.. including you” They state gravely, and Gordon feels powerless under those words. “I know how it sounds, but you’ve seen what those creatures can do, and they’re, uh, a part of you now. If even one cell got back to Earth, we’re absolutely.. absolutely done for”.

They sigh, uncurling their fists. “I’m s-sorry, I wish there was another way. Laurel can walk you through activating the self-destruct mechanisms... but know that Toby will try to stop you. He’s allergic to failure, too proud to go home to mom and dad with his tail between his legs. It’s up to you to stop this madness though, so... good luck” The video continues, ending with a murmured “I told you that you wouldn’t like it”.

When the screen turned black, the two of them sat there in stunned silence. The noisy initialization of the previously unpowered operator dispenser in the corner caught their attention, and he watched as Laurel came floating out. “Hello, Tommy. It’s nice to finally meet you... and you too, Gordon” It remarks, the iris of its black optic sensor flitting between the two of them. Before it could continue, it noticed the dormant operator in his grasp. “Who is that?” They ask, hovering a little closer.

“Uh, one second” Gordon replies, holding up a hand to wiggle his fingers as the sign for ‘wait’. As he presses the power button on Joshua’s chassis, they come to life and eventually float out from his arms. The first words out of his mouth was “I want cashews!”, causing him and Tommy to laugh. “He’s a unique operator, just like you” He adds, and Laurel stops to consider this. 

“...Interesting” They state, watching as he floats around the room to investigate his new surroundings. It probably wasn’t eager to babysit. “Nonetheless, I have new directives available now that I’ve freed you from the simulation and ensured playback of the video” The operator continues, turning back to the duo. “There are two arming keys needed to activate a self-destruction of Resonance 1. Your brother has the first, and you  had the second. Toby destroyed it, but you hid a fabrication plan in Deep Storage. We can worry about finding your brother’s key later”.

If they could sigh, they definitely would have done so. “The Typhon are spreading fast, Tommy. You’ll be racing against them, and your brother. With this keycard, you’ll be able to access the lift and all the labs, though the elevator is currently broken. However, there’s another route through Psychotronics... but Tommy, that’s where the Typhon broke containment. You two will need to be careful” Laurel instructs, moving over to the desk where Tommy’s workstation was perched on top of to deposit a keycard. 

With the conversation finished, as Laurel floated over to the corner of the room to check on something, Gordon felt overwhelmed at what they had been tasked with.  _ I bet they feel the same way_ _._ He gave the director a glance out of his peripheral, and that seemed to confirm his suspicions. They were holding the keycard in their fingers like a lifeline.

He waved a hand in front of them, startling Tommy out of their trance. “We’ll find another way. Laurel doesn’t know everything, even if you are super smart” Gordon assures them, and they smile sheepishly. “Y-yeah! Let’s go, Gordon” They respond, and the two of them are on their way. 

When they’re about to descend the staircase to the Psychotronics department, a virtual banner in front of them aggressively displaying “You are entering a maximum security area” in bold text, Tommy’s TranScribe rings. 

The words are too garbled for Gordon to understand completely, only catching the words “Hibiscus”, “escape pod”, and “Neuromod division”. The two of them turn around and head toward that location as it suggests, but when they step into the foyer, they witness Laurel destroying another operator with an arc of electricity.

“Tommy, that was an earlier, defective model.. or something worse. Everyone- the Typhon, Toby- they’re all working against you. You need to trust yourself and the video you made. We need to get the arming keys and destroy the station before it’s too late” The operator explains, and Gordon glances at the  damaged machine lying on the ground. 

As it tells Tommy something, he spots something yellow sticking out one of the chassis’ internal compartments. When Laurel floats off towards the lobby, its eye turned away, he snags it. It isn’t until they reach Psychotronics once more that he dares to read what it says. 

> _We’ve been trapped in a simulation for who knows how long, Tommy. Consent for experiments is ongoing, not a one and done deal, but they don’t care about that here I guess. We need to get back to Earth to warn people of BlackMesa’s dangerous experiments on Typhon, especially since they’ve already begun blurring the lines between our two species with what they did to Masters and that hybrid. Steal Alex’s escape pod as soon as you can. _
> 
> _ -Tommy, 12/12/34 _

He glances up at his companion, who had been reading it over his shoulder. Their eyes meet for several long seconds, before they eventually retrieve the communicator from their pocket.Laurel picks up the transmission instantaneously after they select their caller id. “H-hey, Laurel? I have.. I have a question” Tommy asks, speaking into the receiver. 

He can’t hear the operator, as the call was finally private for once rather than blasting out through the speaker. “When... when did I make you? I’m trying to figure out when Hibiscus could have.. could have been made by someone” They inquire, and there’s a response that makes their eyes widen. “T-thanks! Gordon and I are about to head into Psychotronics.. so I’ll talk to you soon!” Tommy states, ending the call swiftly and staring down at him.

“They.. they were made a month after Hibiscus” His companion murmurs, and Gordon shares in their unease. “I guess that means we have more than one option to consider, just like I said before” He replies, and that seems to relieve Tommy after this new revelation. 

As they descend the staircase, they kill a patrolling Phantom with a burst of energy without warning. “S-sorry!” They exclaim as he jumps, glad he didn’t have his hearing aids in as the explosion occurs. Entering the department, their older brother chimes in with his thoughts on that decision. “This is the opposite of safe, Tommy. What are you after? Is this engineer helping you? I can see Gordon’s location on my screen, and it’s right next to you” Toby states angrily, before disconnecting the line with a huff. 

Now it was Laurel’s turn for their opinion. “I can eavesdrop on your TranScribe communications with your brother. We’re in agreement on Psychotronics being dangerous. Get through here as fast as possible” They state, and Gordon stares at the large room in front of them after passing through an airlock.

It looked ancient compared to the rest of the station, with the words “Kletka” emblazoned on portions of white paneling, both in English and in Cyrillic. Stepping around the circular support structures holding up the ceiling in the middle of the room, he heard Laurel mention something about the GUTS. 

He had already surmised that was what they were aiming for in here, to get to the Arboretum’s access to Deep Storage. Gordon had never been allowed access to this part of the station, but he always felt tempted to sneak in through the GUTS whenever he was passing by.

They were about to pass through a security station tunnel before a Mimic scuttled through and evaporated into the air as an alarm buzzed. “You.. should probably go around” Gordon suggested, to which Tommy nodded fiercely. Entering through the locker rooms on the left side, seeing as the other option was barricaded, illuminated signage caught their attention. 

“Psychoscope mandatory beyond this point” is what it read, with an unfamiliar device resting on the silhouette’s forehead, shrouding their eyes with a strange visor. When the cleared out the area of Mimics, Gordon scrounged around in some of the closed lockers to locate said devices. As the two of them each held their own helmet-like contraption in their hands, Laurel thought it was time to inform them of what they were.

“A Psychoscope will protect you from the influence of specific Typhon, and it also serves as a way to analyze their neural patterns on the fly. You don’t remember, but you created it, Tommy” The operator explained, and the duo were able to demonstrate its usage in the next room by scanning Typhon that were sealed away in heavy-duty containers. 

Their scopes both dinged with an alert when they were finished: “Scan complete, new psionic aptitude available”. Gordon glanced at Tommy, who inputted something on one of the neuromods they had been carrying in their pockets. He had the chance to glance away before they inserted the twin needles into their eye, and he heard the clang of something falling to the floor, he saw that two neuromods were lying in the metal platform beneath him. But Tommy was nowhere to be seen.

Before he could search the room in panic, one of them shifted. And in the blink of an eye, it morphed into a black silhouette that eventually merged into the familiar features of the Tommy that he knew. “Holy shit” He whispered, and his companion seemed to agree with the bewildered expression on their face. 

When Toby called their communication device, he didn’t hear a word that they said.  _ Tommy has Mimic powers now, that’s so fucking cool!  _ He finally noticed them walking towards the director’s office on one side of the atrium, smashing in a window when the door refused to budge. Gordon crawled in after them, and they made a beeline for a safe that they apparently knew the code to. 

Looking around the room, he saw a corpse on the floor next to a sparking electrical junction. Shooting a chunk of gelifoam at the exposed wiring gave him enough time to repair the damage, and when he turned around, Tommy was shooting another neuromod into their other eye. The ajar door of the safe behind them confirmed how they received more.

After their fourth dosage in the span of two hours, he was concerned. Gordon’s stomach flipped as he watched their knees buckle, and he shot himself forward to catch them before their head could hit the ground. They had fallen unconscious as he hoisted them into his lap, and his anxiety spiked. “Tommy?” He exclaimed aloud, quickly taking off his glasses to hold the lenses in front of their lips. 

To his relief, he was able to see their breath fog up the glass. It would be too hard to check their pulse through the suit, for it covered all of their pulse points. After a few tense seconds, their eyes fluttered open. They murmured something he couldn’t quite hear. 

He yanked the hearing aids out of his breast pocket and turned them on while slipping them inside his ears. “What was that?” Gordon verbalized, and Tommy’s eyes opened fully as they shakily lifted themselves into a sitting position.

“I said that.. I saw something” They reiterated, turning to look more closely at him. “Throughout the simulation, even if I can’t remember any of the, uh, testing, there was something I just saw that I DO remember. It was a dream.. a dream that I’d keep having” Tommy continues, looking at him curiously.

“I could never see anything, and something always dragged me into.. into the void after enough time had passed. But when I got put to sleep earlier.. before Laurel helped me escape, I had it again. Instead of sinking into nothingness, I was able to stand.. stand on something solid... and I-I felt warm instead of cold!” They elaborate, and Gordon has a feeling of deja vu that he can’t quite place. 

“And just now? I was in the dream again, right where I left off, but there.. there was someone beside me. They were shining too bright for me to  look at, and when I looked away... there was someone else standing in the distance, just watching. I heard the words... ‘Wait for me’, I think, and I, I woke up” They state, and Gordon’s eyes widen before he can stop himself. 

_ This can’t be a coincidence. _ He can’t just tell someone he hardly knows that they’ve been having almost the same dreams, so he instead focuses on helping them to their feet. The duo leave the office, and pass through another airlock. When it slides apart to let them enter, a large window ahead shows the two of them quite a view.

Similar to the entrance was another aged section of architecture, with a hole in the top and bottom of the circular room. In between them was a bright yellow substance surrounding two 1950’s styled satellites, painting the air like immobile smoke in the zero gravity.

“Take a good look. Everything happening on Resonance 1 started here” Toby spoke up suddenly, Gordon not even noticing that they had called Tommy in his tunnel vision. He spoke about them “drifting away from him” as something came into view. It was another Typhon organism, but not one that he had ever seen before. Pulling down his Psychoscope’s viewfinder, it soon gives him a name: Weaver. Its movements are almost comical as it drifts around in the air, looking like a shredded black cotton ball.

They continue down the hallway not currently engulfed by flames, and find themselves in the Live Exam room. “I was afraid of this. The scientists here were in the middle of an experiment when they died” Laurel informs them as he sees the door across the room locked shut. 

“Access to the GUTS is closed off during experiments, as a security protocol. You’ll have to finish what they started” The operator says, and the two of them check out the nearby workstation monitor. Inside a large enclosure with a door built into the back of it was a corpse, and bile wanted to coat his mouth.

“During the 60’s and 70’s, the first research teams tried to communicate with the Typhon, but this proved impossible, at least for the time being. Their cerebral structures are highly developed and intentional, with very little elasticity” Laurel explains as Gordon presses a button to open the container according to the guidelines highlighted in a file.

“They have no speech or language of their own, as far as we can tell, and they don’t seem to even see us. Not like we see ourselves, I mean. That was until so called ‘Phantom Genesis’ was further studied. A scientist stationed here by the name of Robert Masters was killed in an accident, attacked by the same thing they were trying to study. They had no family back on Earth, so Psychotronics told the rest of the departments that they had been sent home on medical leave, when in reality they used him for this same sort of experiment that you’re doing now” Their voice mentions nonchalantly, and Gordon feels a shiver down his spine as they say this.

“But unlike previous experiments, something was different this time. Instead of the Phantom retaining little to no remnants of their past humanity, Dr. Masters was fully lucid. There’s no telling where they are right now though, I can’t find them anywhere in the lab. Their.. abrasive personality only became worse after the transformation, however, so it’d be best to avoid them if possible”.

The two of them were able to watch as the Weaver from before levitated over to where the internal door was now opening, and extended a tendril above the corpse on the floor. The body rose like a marionette being pulled by its strings, and the body was engulfed in black smoke before expanding outwards with a burst of energy. In it’s place was now a Phantom, and its body sparked with electricity that immediately shut down the safety measures of the enclosure. 

“Warning, examination theater compromised” An alarm sounded as it slowly stepped its way towards the exit. Gordon attempted to ready his shotgun with a flurry of anxiety, but Tommy raced in front of him and shot a blast of light at its body before it could leave the containment area. Its body was thrown against the internal wall, and Tommy shot at it again and again before it finally disintegrated.

“People are quick to project human features onto things they don’t understand” Toby’s voice rung out in the resulting silence, Gordon’s ears softly ringing still from the explosions. “The Typhon kill us without hesitation, but it’s not because they’re evil. It’s because they can’t do otherwise. Do you know what we discovered? They lack mirror neurons. For all their wonderful abilities, there’s one thing we can do that they can’t- empathize with the suffering of another living creature” The man elaborates, before their voice turns into something more exasperated.

“There’s an exception to that rule however, and it’s part of why the Typhon broke containment in the first place” He adds, ending the call.

The two of them trudge silently through the unlocked door, and Gordon sees the long-awaited signage: “Gravity Utility Tunnel System”. He takes a shaky breath he didn’t know he was holding. “You ready for some more fun in zero gravity?” He asks his companion, gesturing towards the helmets in a nearby open supply crate, giving a forced smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can have Gordon ignore dialogue through the power of deafness, makes my job of writing this behemoth of a fanfic a lot easier lmao
> 
> fuck the weapon upgrade kits in this story, there’s no reason for them to exist in a “non video game” setting, so all the weapons are as strong as they can be (the shotgun starts off with a 4 round capacity, with a max of 10)
> 
> who needs to download a map off a security workstation when you have Gordon
> 
> also compared to like, a regular playthrough, Gordon isn’t gonna be pickpocketing corpses or scouring every workstation for email lore or rummaging for scrap unless he’s like, specifically needing something
> 
> they never explain how one would control the APS, so I made up a way for that to work realistically
> 
> also, from what we can tell in game, Laurel/January seems to track Morgan/Tommy through their tracking bracelet, so I imagine Laurel saw Gordon being next to Tommy all the time and knew he was there despite never addressing him lmao


	3. Silent Running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one’s for the gays

Gordon took the initiative in directing them through the zero gravity. The area was claustrophobic compared to the vastness of space on the station’s exterior, but he didn’t mind it. There weren’t as many hazards in the network of tunnels, if everything was running as it should be. 

He should have expected there to be just as many obstacles as there was elsewhere on  _ Resonance 1 _ when they came across what looked like sacks of Typhon matter stuck to various support beams. An engineering operator floated too close to one, and the two witnessed one of the sacks burst open. Half a dozen black spheres burst out, and they gravitated towards the machine in an instant. 

When the small bundles exploded on contact, taking the operator down with them, he gave a sidelong glance to Tommy that said all he needed to: “Don’t touch those”.

He pulled down his Psychoscope to uncover what their name was, and he told they were called Cystoid Nests, so he assumed the small orbs were known as Cystoids. They gave them a wide berth as they navigated through the next few sets of tunnels, but he had to detonate a few of the nests so they could pass through. 

His GLOO cannon seemed to work just fine on causing them to explode safely from a distance. One of the maintenance tunnel doors was locked by a passcode, so Gordon set about hacking into it while Tommy watched patiently. The next door was a challenge as well, requiring them to pass underneath the blades of a powered off ventilation fan to reach the adjacent tunnel.  _ The Magnetosphere control room should be up ahead— _

His thought was cut off as a pulse of electricity rippled through his suit. His hearing aids cut out thankfully instead of producing a high-pitched squeal. After the arcs dissipated from his body, he turned around to see Tommy just as dazed looking.  That can’t be good. Thinking they could ignore whatever that was for the time being, his heart sank upon seeing the next doorway being locked. 

A note hung on a nearby clipboard: “Cargo Tunnel under Restriction. See Anders Kline in the Magnetosphere Control Room for swipe access”. He pushed his feet against the door to launch himself upwards, ignoring the body that was bathed in the glow from the entrance to the control room. Passing through the gravity door, he was flipped right side up. Tommy followed him in a second after, and he passed through the next door to see what they were working with.

Half the room was on fire, with the corpse of a coworker lying on the floor. He tried to ignore it as he put out the flames. “Warning, seek shelter. Plasma shockwave imminent in...” An alarm announced, and he watched as the machinery inside the next room whirred with a concerning amount of energy. 

He hacked into the workstation before the countdown reached zero, shutting off the power in the nick of time before another EMP. But it was only temporary, as he saw the scorched body of Anders floating in the chamber. As fast as he could, he ran up the nearby staircase and down a hallway to the service entrance. He’d only have a minute or so before the machine kicked back on.

Diving through another gravity door, he used his APS to reach them within seconds, but he chose to drag the corpse behind him instead of simply nicking the keycard. Gordon didn’t want to suffer the same fate as him if he took too long to escape the generator room. He threw them through the gravity door just as the intercom announced that the rebooting sequence was beginning. Tommy was waiting for him on the other side, and said nothing as he retrieved the key card from the dead man’s suit.

“Why did you.. why did do that?” They shout suddenly, their helmet clamoring to ground. Gordon’s confused by what should seem like an obvious answer. “We needed the keycard?” He replies with a raised brow, holding up the plastic rectangle after disconnecting his helmet as well. “You... y-you can’t just run into danger like that without saying anything, Gordon! I was.. I was so worried!” Tommy continues, their voice rising in volume. 

He doesn’t know how to react to that. “I don’t think I could handle... all of this.. by myself, ya know?” They murmur, and he’s just barely able to hear them above the oscillating machinery. Tommy enveloped them in a hug a second later, the angle being awkward as they had to crouch down somewhat to reach him, and he was stunned by such concern for his well-being. He returned the gesture with much reservation. “Sorry.. I’ll give you a heads up next time” He apologized, his face contorting with embarrassment.

They continued on their way towards the Arboretum, and Gordon felt comfortable in this more familiar section of tunnel. As they traveled left at the fork in the path, they found more of that shining yellow substance they’d seen back in Psychotronics. With an impulsive spark of curiosity, he waved his hand through the wispy material, which turned out to be a bad idea. 

His brain became overloaded with a series of images from a disorienting perspective. He was deep inside a laboratory setting, trapped inside a glass container. Needles descended into the structure, and he writhed in discomfort as his mind was overloaded with stimuli of various senses. 

It was like someone’s life flashing before his eyes. Suddenly, he found himself inside a larger enclosure, similar to the one they had created a Phantom in. He was staring down at a workstation that showed images of the American Sign Language alphabet, and “his” hands were mimicking the handshapes. They belonged to a Typhon, but the claws eventually sprouted into human-like digits to make their attempts more smooth. And finally, he was staring at “himself” in a mirror. A pale-faced individual looked back at him, their eyes a stunning hue of violet.

A rough shaking interrupted his mysterious visions, and now he was in his own body once more. The silhouette of Tommy’s suit demanded his attention, and he grabbed them back on instinct. With the sun visor not enabled, he could glimpse their tear-stained face.

“I’m okay!” He said, lifting up his hands so Tommy could see. They simply pulled him into a bear hug, their helmets bonking together. He felt their body tremble, even through their heavy suits. Before he could comfort them, that he had only blacked out for a moment, his uniform made a beep as the intercom wirelessly connected.

“This is Chief Engineer Harold Coomer! The Power Plant has been compromised, and I’m trapped here with my colleagues because there’s something... something out there. Is anyone still alive?” A familiar voice rings out, and his heart soars.  _ Dr. Coomer! _

A buzz of static cuts into the audio, with a woman’s voice now speaking. “It’s about time, Sam!” She comments, her tone sounding harsher through her accent. “Chief, I’m not a comm tech, I was doing the best I can” Someone replies, and there’s a frustrated sigh. 

“Harold, this is Security Chief Sarah Elazar, can you hear me?” They continue, and now Gordon recognizes them as the no-nonsense officer who ran the security team. He had encountered them a few times while making repairs, usually telling off an employee for a violation or something.

“Sarah? Oh thank goodness someone is out there! Yes, I can hear you loud and clear” Coomer replies heartily, and Tommy seems to focus on listening as their body stops shaking. “My team and some other survivors are trapped in the Cargo Bay, and those things are here too. They’re crawling all over the station. Check everything around you, hit it with a wrench” Sarah states, and Sam chimes in with a tired, “Check the wrench first”.

“Sam!” She snaps, but then the woman sighs. “He’s right. Get to a secure area if you aren’t already, and when you’re safe, call me via TranScribe” Sarah continues, and there’s a loud coughing sound on the line. “Are you alright, Harold?” She asks, and there’s another fit of lung hacking. 

“One of my colleagues, Darnold Pepper, is in need of his inhaler, but it’s... inaccessible at the moment” The man replies, and Gordon worries about that. He doesn’t pay attention to what Sarah says next, instead waving his hand in front of Tommy’s face. With their attention on him, he merely tilts his head to the side.  _ Let’s go._

They pass by several more Cystoid Nests that he has to detonate with gelifoam once again, but then he spots a Weaver. The organism seems to see them, but instead of attacking them, it merely runs away in the direction they came, dropping Cystoids that the duo narrowly avoid being pelted with.

The signage denoting the location of the Arboretum fills him with relief, and he takes off his helmet after passing through the gravity door. Gordon longed to strip from the unbearable warmth of his suit, but he had to settle for redoing his messed up ponytail after depositing his Psychoscope on the ground, as loose strands were plastered to his sweaty face. 

He turned around when Tommy stepped through the entryway, and when they removed their helmet, their Psychoscope slid down onto their face. They pushed it up with an annoyed shove back onto their forehead as they shuffled closer to him, but whatever words they had prepared died in their throat. “What’s up?” Gordon asks with a free hand, the other tucking his ponytail behind him.

“U-uh... Nothing!” Tommy answers, and they startle at the sound of their TranScribe ringing. “I wanted to tell you that your brother’s office is also here. ‘Jupiter in his palace at the top of the heavens’ is what you used to say behind his back. Going off that logic, that would make you.. Pluto? That’s an unpleasant thought—“ Laurel states, but they’re cut off by the sound of a distorted warbling.

It reminded him of whale song, but much more unnerving as it sent a shiver down his spine. Frozen in place, there was a banging sound against the nearby door. The two of them turn their head towards the exit of the airlock, and there’s something standing outside. Gordon’s mouth drops open as several pairs of eyes looming inside a large Typhon body gaze at him through the small window. 

Unconsciously, he grabs the nearby hand of Tommy, squeezing it tightly in fear. The creature then let out a series of intense barks that seemed more likely to come from a broken speaker than a living organism, its pale white eyes widening as their enormous body shifted in place.

But to his and Tommy’s relief, there was the sound of gunshots. The bullets seemed to drive them away deeper into the nearby forest, and a group of people eventually appeared where it had once stood. The two of them got closer, and Gordon recognized one of them as a member of the security team, Rani Chaudhary. He gave her a wave before holding up a finger in the universal sign for “hold on”. 

After sliding down a panel close to the doorway, he managed to reset the electronics controlling the power mechanisms. It opened after a few moments, and they rushed out to greet the fellow survivors. “Dr. Shapiro! And.. Freeman, am I correct?” The security officer exclaimed, and he nodded at their assumption. “I came up to deploy the eradicator turrets when that.. thing you just saw made us all run for cover in the greenhouse. But there was another creature in there, and.. it could fly!” Rani stated, shuddering as she describes what had happened.

“Soon, it was like all the color bled from the world, and everything had an.. edge to it. I couldn’t control myself, and I thought I was about to shoot Rodney before there was a blaze of fire in the sky and the thing fell to the ground, dead” She continues, and alarm colors his face.  _ Something else killed a Typhon? _

“Did you see.. see what it was?” Tommy asks, their thoughts running identical to his. The woman shakes her head. She then glances behind them, and sighs. “You wouldn’t happen to know how to fix the lift, would you? None of us here have an APS to traverse the GUTS” Rani asks, throwing a stare his way. He nods, and he trails after the group of four with Tommy by his side. 

His head is buzzing with an imminent headache, and in contrast, his companion stares in astonished wonder at the greenery around them. He didn’t know how much more adrenaline his body could make at the rate things were happening around them, and he felt a wave of exhaustion crashing through his muscles. The events of this morning felt like eons ago.

“What was that thing we saw? It seemed... different” Gordon mumbles, too tired to move his hands. Their gaze snaps up at this in surprise, but they give no answer, shrugging. The survivors shamble their way inside the nearby building that lead to the lift, but Rani suddenly holds up a hand as she nears the glass door.

Tommy makes their way to the front, with Gordon not far behind. They soon see why she asked everyone to stop: a levitating Typhon was in the adjacent room. He gives a knowing look to his companion, retrieving the shotgun from his back. He mimics its shape with a free hand, hoping they get the silent message. 

Tommy nods and pulls out their pistol. Rani doesn’t have a chance to say anything before they push through the dual doors, and he’s greeted by a high-pitched shriek in his hearing aids. Gordon nearly drops his weapon as he rips them out of his ears, and when he looks up, there’s a bright blue eye staring right at him from the squarish bulk of black tendrils. _It looks like an operator._

Pushing aside that thought, he stuffed his hearing aids into a pocket and launched himself across the room as an orb of electricity ricocheted past his body. “Laurel says it’s like.. like the Voltaic Phantom in Psychotronics!” He hears Tommy yell from across the room, and there’s the soft clinking of bullets rocketing from the barrelof the pistol. Gordon shoots a volley of shotgun shells with its back now turned, and it can’t decide who to attack as they pin it between gunfire.

When it lay dead on the floor, with Laurel spotting off something about it “reprogramming code on the fly”, Rani runs in with her ragtag group. “I can’t believe you two killed that thing!” She gasps, and Gordon doesn’t know how to react except with a sheepish expression and fidgeting with his glasses. “The lift should be.. it should be working now!” Tommy states, and Rani seems itching to go. 

“I’m supposed to fall back to the Cargo Bay with the rest of the security team, what will you two be doing?” She asks as the group shuffles into the elevator. “We’re going to find my coworkers trapped in the Power Plant” Gordon replies quietly, not bothering to use his hands once again. Tommy looks at him, clearly thinking about how they were originally headed to Deep Storage. He stares back at them.

“I refuse to let another person I know die” He states silently, and Tommy’s face is contemplative for a moment before turning into an understanding smile.

The group parted ways once they reached their respective destination, and that left Gordon alone with Tommy once more. He guided them towards the Power Plant, unsure of what to expect with Dr. Coomer’s description of it being “compromised”. 

They passed by a security station with a mural flanking their left and a massive window to their right. Just outside was a large Typhon, similar to the one they had just killed. After pulling down their Psychoscope, Tommy soon learned that it was a Telepath. “If what we found earlier was similar to it, maybe we should call that one.. a uh... Technopath?” They suggest, and Gordon approves the name with a nod. 

Dropping down through the grav shaft after passing by the monitoring room, the airlock opened at their presence to reveal quite a scene. Large sections of the coolant chamber were ablaze, with countless charred Typhon remains littering the ground. 

The smoke irritated his lungs, and he used his GLOO cannon to extinguish the flames as quickly as he could. By the time he reached the final burning section of wall, he couldn’t breathe without hacking out a cough with every step. The two of them soon stepped into the closest room they could find, shutting the door behind them. 

As he tried to focus on not passing out, he heard Tommy rummaging around in the shadows of the unlit room. When they returned, they had two cans of water in their hands. He realized that they had found themselves in a break room, and he eagerly took the offered drink after taking in their surroundings.

It soothed his throat like honey, and he couldn’t remember the last time something tasted so good. “Let’s go find Darnold’s office so we can get his inhaler” He eventually suggests, wiping the excess water off his chin. But as he goes to stand up from his position on the floor, his legs wobble and his vision swims. 

Tommy grabs his hand just in time, pulling him flush to their body. His face goes red despite himself,but their gaze is thankfully looking elsewhere. Their hand snakes over his shoulder to grab at something, and then an unknown object is situated in front of his face. After a moment of attempting to focus his blurry sight, he recognizes it as the tube connected to his O2 tank. 

Gordon shoves the plastic in between his lips as Tommy flips the switch on his back, and he relishes in the fresh air hitting his lungs as he inhales multiple times.  “Here” He insists with a low mumble, handing it to them after the smoke felt like it had been purged from his body. 

Tommy accepts the tubing hesitantly, and inspires a deep breath. Gordon notices the warmth of their exhale hitting his face, and something urges him to get closer. They don’t move, immobilized like they were frozen in gelifoam as he does so. He must be delirious from the excess carbon dioxide, because before he can interupt this sudden desire, he stands on his toes to press a kiss to their lips. His brain screams at him to stop, but he indulges himself for just a few seconds. 

When he tries to pull away, a hand drags his jaw forward, keeping their mouths locked in place. Heat spreads throughout his body as Tommy deepens the kiss, crouching down to reach him more easily, and he can’t believe the moment of pure impulsivity worked in his favor. 

He enjoys the texture of their gloved hand on his stubble, and Gordon lets loose a content sigh. His throat still feels shredded and his breathing is now ragged once more, but he tolerates it in chasing the electric high of Tommy’s body against his.

To his great displeasure, a TranScribe just so happened to ring with its annoying incoming call alert. The one time he was completely able to block out the nerve wracking events around him, and reality had to come crashing back in through this picturesque moment of tranquility.  You could have captured this scene in a snowglobe. 

Tommy’s expression reflected his same feelings of indignation, their eyebrows furrowing. But when he retrieved the device from his pocket, they didn’t step away from him. They remained in that same tantalizing proximity, their stare raking over his flustered expression thoughtfully as he accepted the call. 

“Hello?” He verbalizes, suppressing his annoyance at the interruption and putting the TranScribe on speaker. Tommy turned off his oxygen tank, and the brief movement made him ache for more physical contact.

“Ah, Gordon, it’s so good to know that you are alright! Things were a bit hairy down here in the Power Plant, as we were forced to hunker down in Nguyen’s office, but our fortune turned for the better due to.. a certain someone’s assistance! Would you two mind grabbing Darnold’s inhaler from his office? It would be most appreciated!” Dr. Coomer stated, his words ricocheting across his skull too quickly for them to sink in.

It also didn’t help that his extremely attractive companion was studying him like a museum painting from inches away, their amber eyes piercing through him like the sun. “S-sure thing, be there soon” Gordon murmurs, disconnecting the line and not a moment after he does that, Tommy calls him “beautiful” with a quick motion of their hand. When his cheeks turn crimson, they laugh, planting a kiss on his forehead.

“Lead the way, Dr. Freeman” They suggest, their satisfied grin almost distracting him from reading their hands. He turns around with a huff, opening the door and venturing out into the chamber. The smoke had dissipated slightly, but just as in Hardware Labs, the fire alarms remained silent. They made their way across the concourse, and he found the bright blue canister in Darnold’s desk drawer.

Passing through the door leading to the airlock and reactor core, Gordon caught a glimpse of his coworkers through a window on his right. He waved to catch their attention, but as one of them ran to unlock the door, he saw something that made him seriously question the quality of his vision. A Phantom stood awkwardly in a corner of the room, flames smoldering across their black silhouette, and Dr. Coomer seemed to be.. talking to it. 

As the duo stepped inside, he almost didn’t notice the stare that Darnold gave Tommy, one of utter shock. “I thought you were Earthside..!” The man uttered hoarsely before breaking into a fit of coughing, and he quickly pivoted his focus from the Typhon in the room to giving the gravity engineer his inhaler. He accepted it wordlessly, but he flashed Gordon a grateful expression as he pressed it to his lips.

“Hello, Gordon!” Someone exclaimed, and he felt his body hoisted into the air as Dr. Coomer held him in a tight hug. He was taller than they were, but that was no problem it seemed.

After letting his feet touch solid ground once more, his boss gave a wry smile. “Now Gordon, do you recall someone by the name of Dr. Robert Masters, who we were all informed had been sent home on medical leave?” The white-haired engineer continues, and a lightbulb blinks in his mind. But before he can respond that he knows of their situation, the mentioned individual steps forward into closer view.

“The bastards put me in a goddamn tube” Masters grumbles, their voice startlingly human despite a veneer of pitch distortion. He doesn’t miss a beat, moving immediately into a question. “Was that your handiwork out there?” Gordon asks, his hands delayed after his voice, and the Phantom responds with a scoff.

“I can’t just let this pyrokinesis go to waste, now can I?” They retort, and he chuckles. He tells the small group that they’ll be safe back in Tommy’s office, and it’s a fairly relaxing walk to the lift. 

“Good luck out there, you two!” Dr. Coomer says after he tells them that Tommy needs assistance with something to stop all this whole madness. The group leaves the elevator, leaving him and Tommy alone as it shifts towards the Arboretum. He gives them a sideways glance, and they return it by leering at him goofily. 

“So... about that kiss” Gordon asks unsurely, the words spilling from his mouth before he can stop. “Hm? D-did you like it?” They reply, their eyes watching him intently. His mouth goes dry, so he simply nods. Tommy laughs. 

“Ya know, Darnold was telling me on the way here, after I said I’d lost m-my memory, that he and I.. we had dated for a short time. When I suddenly disappeared from the station to.. to be in all those simulations, he figured that I’d broken up with him” They inform him, and his stomach flips at this.  _ Are they gonna get back together? _

Instead, they close the gap between the two of them. “But I’m not gonna dwell on the past anymore. He’s moving on, and well, so.. so should I” They continue, leaning down to press their mouths together. It catches Gordon off guard, but the hand on his neck lets him dissolve into the sensation effortlessly. 

Even after the elevator reaches its destination, they don’t halt the moment. He pulls away to catch his breath, the lenses of his glasses currently cloudy, and he presses a hand to their chest. “We should get going, before the station collapses around us” He posits, his words coming out more softly than he intended.

Tommy rolls their eyes. “Whatever you say, uh, boss” They reply, and his lips purse at the condescension oozing from their voice. “That’s right, I’m in charge around here, and don’t you forget it” Gordon counters, waving his wrench around in the air, and the dramatic posturing falls flat instantly. The two of them burst into a fit of giggles.

They head towards Deep Storage, but before he can step through the grav shaft, he’s caught off guard by something in the corner of his eye. A large stain of black blood is splattered across the ground, trailing further into the trees. Without a second thought, he follows it, with Tommy not far behind.  _ Is it from that large Typhon we saw earlier? _

He swaps the wrench in his hands for his shotgun, but the blood splatters decrease in frequency. He was about to turn around in defeat when something was picked up by his hearing aids. “I knew you’d find me” A strained voice says, and he glances to the side, seeing someone sitting against the trunk of a nearby tree. 

Their black and blue uniform had a massive tear in the side of it, and one hand was pressed firmly against it. “There’s a MedBay next to the elevator, go get a medkit” He instructs Tommy, and they hesitate for a moment, shooting him a concerned glance. “It’ll be fine, go” He replies encouragingly, and they’re soon gone from his sight. This thing couldn’t hurt him in such a state.

Turning his attention back to the stranger, he kneels on the ground next to them. “What are you?” Gordon asks, both speaking and signing, just in case. To his surprise, they remove the hand from their side.

“I’m your worst nightmare” They respond in sign, a sly grin on their face, and that’s when he finally notices their impossibly violet-colored eyes. He’s rendered speechless, and the Typhon-hybrid seems to notice, their smile growing. “But... why me? Tommy I can understand, but.. I’m just an engineer” He reacts, feeling that familiar combination of anger and confusion boiling in his mind. _I’m not special._

“Your memories were the nicest. Not as loud” The creature muses, their bloody hands contrasting with the positive words. “You were different from everyone and I guess... I guess I could understand that” They continue, and their impossibly beautiful gaze seems to strike an arrow through his heart.

“Do.. do you have a name?” Gordon asks, and their fingerspelled reply is immediate: “Benrey”. The man can’t help but laugh. “Like.. like the name of my stuffed octopus from when I was 7?” He clarifies, a ridiculous grin painting his face. Benrey’s pale face flushes a shade of pink. “It’s a good name...” They murmur, and there’s a rustling in the foliage behind him as Tommy returns with a medical kit.

To his surprise, they open it without a word, and it lifts the burden of first-aid off Gordon’s shoulders. With Benrey’s side exposed, he notices that they had already expelled the several bullets from the wounds onto the ground beside them. Even with that step removed from the process, they were still actively bleeding. 

Deft hands removed the roll of gauze from the nearby box, but Gordon knew that they wouldn’t be able to adequately wrap the wound without opening up their suit. “Benrey, can I unzip your uniform so Tommy can cover up your side?” He asks, and the alien’s eyes flash with alarm for a moment. 

“S-sure” They reply uneasily a second later, and he leans forward to access the zipper that zigzags across the front of the suit. Pale skin reveals itself, and Gordon blushes.  _ Of course they don’t have on any clothes underneath. What was I thinking? _

Tommy doesn’t seem to mind the implications of the exposed torso, simply sticking their hands inside the clothing to bind several layers of gauze around their torso. Their touch seems to make Benrey blush again, and he chuckles to himself, knowing that Tommy had impossibly cold hands.

“Now what do we do?” Tommy asks discreetly in sign, and Gordon wants to laugh. “Benrey knows ASL... actually, they know it because of me” He responds, and their face lights up with confusion. 

“It’s a long story, but I think they should tag along. Having a Typhon-hybrid for a bodyguard should be helpful” He grins, and Benrey shares this expression when he glances over at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the “gravity door” is a name I gave to something in game that I’ve yet to find a descriptor for; it separates non-loading screen gravity and zero gravity locations, and it functions like a grav shaft mechanics/sound wise
> 
> Benrey’s form is based on the Nightmare, here’s a link to how terrifying it sounds (I have a pavlovian response to shiver whenever I hear that musical sting) https://youtu.be/lSX8j8nLCus


End file.
